Marine Biological Laboratory
Woods Hole, MA 02543
(508) 548-3705
contact: Dori Chrysler <dchrysle at mbl.edu>
For other course descriptions at the MBL:
gopher: crane.mbl.edu or...
WWW: http://alopias.mbl.edu/Default.html
------------------------- Neural Systems & Behavior
---------------------------
Neurobiology
June 12 - August 13, 1994
For pre- and postdoctoral students who intend to work in cellular and
molecular neurobiology. Postdoctorals and students at an advanced stage of
their graduate training are particularly encouraged to apply. Course
consists of lectures and laboratories in which all students participate.
Limited to 12 students.
The themes will be the functions of neural cells, the molecules involved in
these functions, and the organization of molecular components required to
generate cellular activity. These themes will be presented from different
perspectives in the three sections of the course:
(1) Neurophysiology will be concerned with impulse conduction, synaptic
transmission and the ion channels which participate in these phenomena. In
the laboratory, channel activity in whole cells, in isolated membrane
patches, and in artificial lipid membranes will be measured. Preparations
will include molluscan giant neurons, cultured cells, brain slices, and
Xenopus oocytes.
(2) Molecular neurobiology will be concerned with neurotransmitters,
intracellular second messengers, membrane receptors, and both ligand-gated
and voltage-dependent ion channel proteins. Methods of protein chemistry,
including affinity chromatography, labeling and peptide mapping, will be
discussed and used in the laboratory. Molecular topics and techniques will
include cloning, heterologous expression, and site-directed mutagenesis.
(3) Structural and developmental neurobiology will be concerned with
neuronal migration, neurite outgrowth, and the onset of excitability, as
well as the static and dynamic morphological features of neural cells
relevant to such functions as synaptic transmission and axonal transport.
Laboratory projects will use cell culture approaches to problems of
development, electron microscopy combined with rapid freezing techniques,
and video-enhanced light microscopy to follow structural changes in living
cells.
This course is supported in part by grants from the National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Grass Foundation.
Directors: Leonard K. Kaczmarek, Yale University; and Irwin Levitan,
Brandeis University.
Faculty: Gary Banker, University of Virginia; Judy Drazba, NINDS; Keith
Elmslie, Tulane University; Richard Horn, Jefferson Medical College;
Reinhard Jahn, Yale University; Stephen Jones, Case Western Reserve
University; Bechara Kachar, NIDCD; Julie Kauer, Duke University; Richard
Kramer, University of Miami; Diane Lipscombe, Brown University; John
Marshall, Yale University; Christopher Miller, Brandeis University; Sally
Moody, George Washington University; Angus Nairn, Rockefeller University;
Marina Picciotto, Pasteur Institute; Thomas Reese, NINDS; Peter Reinhart,
Duke University; Laura Roman, Yale University; Talvinder Sihra, University
of London; Carolyn Smith, NINDS; and others to be named.
Tuition: $3,000